1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a vehicle steering column, and more particularly to a mechanism for adjusting a height position of a steering wheel connected to the vehicle steering column to accommodate the position of a driver.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a variety of tilting and telescoping steering column arrangements have been developed and are used today in the field of automotive industry. Telescoping steering column assembly typically uses two jackets, wherein one jacket is fixed to a frame of a vehicle body, and another jacket is adapted to be translated with respect to the jacket fixed to the frame, thereby providing relative longitudinal movement between the two jackets with respect to one another.
Various configurations and designs are available in the prior art for telescoping steering column assemblies and have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,763 to Nagashima, U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,416 to Singer, III et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,577 to Weiss et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,228 to Olgren et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,357 to Jurik et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,532 to Ryne et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,807 to Fujiu et al.
Although the prior art configurations of the telescoping steering column assembly are used in the automotive industry today, there remains an opportunity for a new design for adjusting the relative longitudinal position between two jackets of a steering column.